"The Cascade Staircase is a beautiful architectural composition with fountains.
This is one of the central attractions of the city, located in the Resort Park. It was completed in 1936 according to the design of the architect I.V. Papkov with a practical purpose: to drain excess mineral water from local springs, which previously flowed down the slope of Mount Zheleznaya, swamping the area. Initially, the staircase was 240 meters long, but in 2019 it was significantly expanded, and now its total length is about 860-900 meters, which makes it the longest staircase in the south of Russia. The staircase has up to 700 steps and has a height difference of 110 meters. It starts at Lake Tridtsatka (an artificial reservoir created in 1954) and rises to the Smirnovsky spring at the foot of Mount Zheleznaya. The staircase is double-sided, with cascades of water flowing down the central flowing pools, although now ordinary water is used, not mineral water as before.
Along the staircase there are 10 fountains, sculptures of fairy-tale and mythological characters, such as the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, Danila the Master, nymphs, frogs, satyrs, as well as bas-reliefs of famous historical figures: Emperor Alexander I, General A.P. Ermolov, writers A.S. Pushkin, M.Yu. Lermontov and L.N. Tolstoy.
One of the unique features of the staircase is a pump room-book with engraved lines from Lermontov's works, made in his handwriting, as well as a bust of Doctor F.P. Haas, the discoverer of the Zheleznovodsk springs. At the top of the stairs there is a sculpture of an eagle - a symbol of the Caucasian Mineral Waters, and at the bottom, by the lake, there is a bronze statue of a "Girl on a Bicycle".
The stairs are equipped with ramps for people with disabilities and benches for rest.
There are signs on the steps indicating the number of calories burned during the ascent. In 2019, the stairs were reconstructed, new sections, lanterns, flower beds and recreation areas were added.
The stairs are beautiful at any time of the year, but are especially picturesque in the evening when the backlight is turned on."

Azar

"A multi-step cascading staircase. Beautiful, as are any staircases in any park. The upper part of the staircase is older than its wider lower part. Nothing extraordinary: sculptures, lanterns, plaques. Everything is the same as everyone else's, even a little worse. Unfortunately, the fountains of the cascade weren't working. Somewhere in the middle is an interesting pump room shaped like a book and a monument to Friedrich Haass. We only worked on descending the stairs; we didn't want to go back up and lose those hard-earned calories. We returned to the Pushkin Gallery through the city."

Antonius

"The top of the stairs offers a very beautiful view, the steps are comfortable and not steep. In the center, according to the plan, there should be steps with flowing water, but now they are dry, because the upper part of the cascade does not work, the pools are empty, the fountain figures have also been removed, I hope this is due to restoration. But the lower part of the stairs is in perfect order, just beautiful! If you go from the bottom up, you can count how many calories you burned, on each flight of stairs there is a figured plate attached to the step in the form of a pump room mug, which indicates the number of calories burned during the ascent 😜"

Наталья Александрова